About

Carma's Mission

Carma Spence, The Own Your Awesome Mentor, is fiercely committed to guiding women to Owning their Awesome and turning it into income, either as a side hustle or a full-time business. She is masterful at helping her clients see what is possible for them -- no matter how obscure their interests may be -- and supporting them on the journey from where they are to where they want to be, releasing the Mind Goblins of self-doubt, self-sabotage and second-guessing that keep them stuck.

Carma Spence

With 20+ years experience in marketing communications and public relations, natural intuitive skills and certification in using some of the most effective transformational coaching tools available, Carma’s mission and commitment is to unleash the inner power every woman possesses so they can boldly go out into the world, transforming the fabric of people’s lives in meaningful and positive ways.

What Own Your Awesome Means

Wondering what "Own Your Awesome" means? Watch this short video where Carma explains the concept.

Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey is the mythological structure of how all these legends have been told. And usually what happens is the hero is called to be the hero and his first reaction is saying, “Hell no!” And he resists it and it's only later that he, through all these trials and tribulations, eventually embraces his own heroism. I think that we are all born heroes. But we’re not always born with the self-recognition of that hero within us.

~ Carma Spence

Carma's Experience

Content Creator and Marketer

An award-winning editor with more than 20 years experience in marketing, public relations and science communication, Carma is a multi-dimensional entrepreneur, science fiction writer, and poet.
 

After earning a master’s degree from the University of Maryland College Park in Journalism (from the number one public relations program in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report), Carma developed a career as a corporate science writer. Her ability to understand high-level science (she holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology) and translate it for a lay audience, coupled with her marketing and public relations training, enabled her to help employers such as City of Hope National Medical Center, Blue Shield of California and the National Human Genome Research Institute gain local and national exposure, and improve customer and employee communications.

Carma performed pro bono work for KRCB Public Television, the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts and the North Bay Career Resource Center. She has promoted wines from Texas, South Africa, and the elite Champagne Deutz, and helped pioneer a website for pediatric professionals.

With the increasing importance of the Internet in marketing communications, Carma has developed an expertise in online presence and strategy. She’s written two books in the online space: Home Sweet Home Page, which received numerous positive reviews, and 57 Secrets for Branding Yourself Online (from Logical Logical Expressions Publishing). She has worked with best-selling author Cynthia Kersey, fitness expert Wendy Ida and speaker/entertainer Cindy Ashton.

Carma has been a writer since she was seven. Her love of travel (she grew up in East Africa), along with her passion for science fiction, propelled her to create the online travel resource for science fiction, fantasy and horror fans, The Genre Traveler. She is also working on a multi-media history and sociology of science fiction, titled Yesteryear’s Future. Her two cookbooks, Bonkers for Bundt Cakes and Your Perfect Pie, can be found online at Amazon and BN.com. Her current book project, Public Speaking Super Powers, is due out in 2018.

Speaker

As a speaker, Carma has received several awards, including a lifetime membership to the National Speech & Debate Association (formerly the National Forensic League). She has been a member of Toastmasters since 1989, where she earned her Distinguished Toastmasters (DTM) award. The greatest honor that can be earned by a member of Toastmasters International, the DTM award is given only to those who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and communication skills and used those skills to help others in their self-development efforts.

Survivor and Thriver

People often comment on Carma's strength and courage, but these qualities were hard won. Carma left an emotionally abusive marriage, only to fall into another relationship that was worse. That relationship ended the night her boyfriend attacked her, resulting in a fractured orbital. However, it was that same fateful night that woke her up and got her to do the inner work she had only been dabbling in before.

After a year of counseling, training and studying Universal Laws, Carma met a good man who loves her as she is and supports her when her Awesome ebbs and flows (as all our Awesome does). Because of the inner work, she was finally ready to let such a man into her life.

But the trials weren't over. Just as the happy couple announced their wedding date, Carma was hit by a car while crossing the street, resulting in multiple fractures in her skull, left arm, ribs, and hips. It took four months to learn how to walk again. All aspects of her life were affected by that accident, but she ... with the help of her then fiancé/now husband, as well as the long-distance support of her social media followers ... is pulling through stronger than ever.

Carma's Vision

The wind beneath her clients’ wings, Carma provides women with expert advice on product creation, mindset, branding, and online presence, as well as the emotional support necessary to carve out their niche for success in life and business.

She believes that through her work she can help create the world where all people can reach their potential; where we everyone can Own Their Awesome and live their purpose; and where no one judges another’s Awesome as being greater or lesser than their own.

Owning Your Awesome may be a simple path, but it is not always an easy one. It means taking responsibility for your actions. It means making peace with your weaknesses. It means stepping up into your strengths.

Owning Your Awesome requires integrity and integrity requires vigilance and self-awareness.

Organizations Carma Has Worked for/with:

What previous employers have said:

CARMA Spence: The Own Your Awesome Mentor
"One of Carma's greatest assets is her ability to bring new and innovative ideas to the table."
05/08/2008
CARMA Spence: The Own Your Awesome Mentor

"Carma offered many fresh ideas that contributed in part to the overall success of KidsGrowth."
05/30/2001
CARMA Spence: The Own Your Awesome Mentor

"As an excellent writer and thorough editor, she is able to take complex information and make it understandable in layman's language to a varied audience."
11/01/1999
CARMA Spence: The Own Your Awesome Mentor

"Carma has a strong scientific background and an ability to translate her knowledge into readable, interesting copy."
04/01/1998
CARMA Spence: The Own Your Awesome Mentor

"Her exceptional writing and organizational skills, 'can do' attitude, and patient demeanor are infectious to those around her. Her attention to detail, ability to meed deadlines, tireless energy and congenial personality are among her many assets."
12/07/1993
CARMA Spence: The Own Your Awesome Mentor

"Carma is very good at helping people understand something that is new to them. She is intelligent, amiable and easy to work with."
12/06/1993

Editorial Awards

Professional Memberships